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A
Few Good Men:
The common strategy when going to
war is to amass the largest army possible in order to overwhelm the
enemy. However, selecting the wrong kind of soldiers can invite
disaster. The all volunteer military teams that are fighting in Iraq
have produced what our highest military leaders call "the most
dedicated, disciplined, professional soldiers that have ever served
under the Flag of these United States."
This strategy is not a new one.
Gideon set aside those within his ranks that were fearful, hesitant or
distracted by their own issues (see Judges 7). Our leadership team is
small but powerful; a team to be proud of.
LEADERSHIP:
We have selected members of
different branches of the service including officers, NCOs, enlisted
men and at least one civilian to serve on our Board of Directors. There
are numerous other individuals who assist Crossfire through our Board
of Advisors. Each has shown unique qualities necessary for the success
of Crossfire's goals.
OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Dr. Oscar D. Ramirez -
The
founder and President of Crossfire National Veterans Assistance
Corporation has a military career which spans almost three
decades. Dr. Ramirez served in the Air Force Systems Command,
Air Force Training Command, Tactical Air Command, Strategic Air
Command, Pacific Air Force, Military Airlift Command and the Army
National Guard. He served one tour of duty in Vietnam and his reserve
unit was activated during the first Gulf War. He has received over 14
different medals, ribbons, commendations and citations for his military
service and he is a service connected disabled veteran.
Dr. Ramirez was ordained into the ministry in 1974 after completing a
Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Education and a Bachelor of Theology. He
became a faculty member and Department Head at Florida Bible College,
and later undertook graduate level courses towards a Masters in
Business Administration from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. The
deregulation of the airline industry convinced him to change direction
and pursue graduate and postgraduate work in psychology. He then
completed a Masters of Arts and a Ph.D. in Christian Psychology from
Jacksonville Seminary.
He has served as the Program Manager for
Miami Rescue Mission's
one year residential treatment center for homeless men suffering from
substance abuse and other co-occurring issues. Dr. Ramirez also served
as volunteer counselor and therapist at the Miami VA Medical Center's
Outpatient Substance Abuse Clinic (OSAC), and was later invited to
conduct similar therapeutic sessions within the Miami VA's
Specialized Inpatient Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder Unit (SIPU)
Program. He has worked for several mental health
programs in Broward and Palm Beach.
Recently, Dr. Ramirez worked with
President Bush's Faith and Community
Based Initiatives building
community coalitions through the Florida Department of Labor (WorkForce
One). Dr. Ramirez served as the Performance Improvement Manager for the
Federal H-1B Nurse Recruitment
grant, his efforts received local and national recognition resulting in
an additional
$4 million grant to
Broward Community College's Nursing
Program. He has also assisted many non profit groups in their
initial organizational and funding efforts throughout Florida, has
conducted seminars and training sessions throughout the country on
subjects such as PTSD and substance abuse.
       
CH (COL) Gary G. Cohen,
USAR, Ret. - Chaplain Cohen enlisted into
the Pennsylvania National Guard (28th Inf Div)
in 1957, beginning his military career as a private in the infantry and
the artillery, serving on the 105mm howitzer. He was assigned
for training to Ft. Knox, KY, Ft. Chaffee, AK, and Ft.
Carson, CO. He was commissioned in 1963 as a 1LT, and served
in an Ordinance Battalion in Ft. Wayne, IN, He returned to the 28th
Division, 56th BDE, where he was promoted to CPT
and served in anti-riot duty. After completing the Advanced Officers
Course and the C&GS Course, he was promoted to MAJ. He served
in the USAR as a chaplain in a CBT SPT HOSP and then a CHEM GRP, and
was promoted to LTC. Following this, he was assigned to the 3220th
USAG, then located in West Palm Beach, FL, where he was a section
director. There, having completed the USAF Air War College course, as
well as the joint services senior officer Reserve Components National
Security Course, he was promoted to COL. He then served for
six years in the 324th GEN HOSP, later the 324th
CBT SPT HOSP. He received six ribbons/decorations and
completed 35 years of service in 1992, receiving the Meritorious
Service Medal.
After graduating from Temple University of Philadelphia with a BSEd, he
continued his studies and graduated from Faith Theological Seminary,
Mdiv and STM, and received the ThD from Grace Theological Seminary,
Winona Lake, Indiana. In 1989 the LittD was conferred upon
him for his writings, including Hosea-Amos,
Understanding Revelation, The Horsemen Are
Coming, and Weep Not for Me. He has
recently completed a book on psychology, cosmology, and faith.
As a university professor, Dr. Cohen is in his 24th year as
professor of Biblical Studies at
Trinity International
University-South Florida Campus (formerly Miami
Christian College), where he now teaches in the evenings in
the Excel and M.A.R. programs. He is President
Emeritus of Cohen Theological Seminary, Torrance, California and Seoul,
Korea.
Dr. Cohen was one of the translators of the New King James
Bible, and did editorial work on the
Red Letter King James Bible, and
contributed articles for the
Christian Life Bible and the Kirban Prophecy Bible.
His articles on Hebrew and Greek words appear in the Old
Testament Theological Word Book and The
Complete Bible Library.
Dr. Cohen also served as pastor of two churches, and as president of
Graham Bible College and Clearwater Christian College. In
1994, with the help of his family, he built the prototype for the Model
of Jerusalem now housed in Orlando, FL at the Holyland
Experience. He has led tours to Israel, Jordan,
Greece, and Egypt and has been a popular church and conference speaker,
speaking in recent years in Los Angeles, Seattle, Hungary, Korea,
Taiwan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan.
      
Rev. Max Alt - Rev. Max Alt served in
Vietnam ('65 - '66) with the 173rd. Airborne INF BDE, was wounded and
decorated. After working 20 years in the secular world, he was ordained
into the ministry and has been a pastor in a local church in Miami,
Florida for the last 20 years.
      
Dr. Robert
Beatty, Lt. Col. USA Ret.-
Highlights of Dr. Robert
Beatty's distinguished military career include:
Commissioned as a
Distinguished Military ROTC Graduate and commissioned into the Regular
Army June 1957. After attending the Signal Officer Basic Course at Fort
Monmouth, NJ, he was assigned to the 124th Signal Battalion, 4th
Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Washington, This was followed by
Paratrooper training. -
In 1959, 1st Lt
Beatty was reassigned to Allied Land Forces Central Europe (NATO) in
Fountainbleau, France, where he served as Officer-in-Charge of a NATO
Communications Center.
In 1962 he
returned to CONUS as a Captain and attended the Infantry Officer Career
Course and the Nuclear Weapons Employment Officer Course at Fort
Benning, GA. He then was assigned to the Signal School where he taught
tactical signal communications doctrine to officers in the Signal
Officer Career Course -
In 1964 he was deployed
to Vietnam where he served with MACV as the Division Signal
Advisor to the ARVN 9th Infantry Division.
He then returned
to the Signal School for another eighteen month tour before reporting
to the US Army Command and General Staff College as a Major. Upon
graduation in 1968, Major Beatty
redeployed to Vietnam and served with the 2nd Field Force in
Siagon in an organization known as Capitol Military Assistance Command
(CMAC), an un-numbered provisional division, whose mission was to stop
the rocket attacks on Siagon. He was the Assistant Division Signal
Officer -
In 1969 he
returned to CONUS and was promoted to Lt. Col.
In 1973 he was
reassigned to Germany and took command of the 1st. Signal Battalion,
one of the three battalions in 7th Signal Brigade. After his eighteen
month command assignment, he was reassigned to another NATO command,
Central Army Group (CENTAG) as the Executive Officer to the Assistant
Chief of Staff for Communications and Electronics.
In 1977 he
returned to CONUS for the terminal assignment in the Pentagon as a
Logistics Signal Staff Officer in the Office of the Deputy Chief of
Staff for Logistics. He retired in September 1980 after having served
for over 23 years of active duty.
Dr. Beatty formal education began at Northeastern University in Boston,
Massachusetts, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in
Economics. He subsequently earned a Master of Business
Administration in Management from Fairleigh Dickinson University in
Rutherford, New Jersey. His theological education includes
both a Master of Divinity in Pastoral Ministries and a Master of Arts
in Bible from Columbia Biblical Seminary, which is part of Columbia
International University. Additionally, he has earned a
Doctor of Ministry degree in the specialty area of Christian
Organizational Development from Fuller Theological Seminary in
Pasadena, California. His doctoral dissertation was on the
subject, "Business Ethics and the Christian Enterprise, A Call to
Ethical Renewal."
Dr. Beatty served as an Associate Professor and Chairman of the
Management Department at Trinity International University, South
Florida Campus for twelve years. He continues to serve as the
Coordinator of the Master of Arts in Religion Program, offered by
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, as well as teaching Bible and
pastoral ministry courses at Calvary Chapel Bible Institute in Fort
Lauderdale. He came to Miami over sixteen years ago after serving on
the faculty and staff of Columbia Bible College and Seminary in
Columbia, S.C., for six years in the field of adult distance education.
Dr. Beatty is an ordained minister with eight years experience as a
part-time Prison Chaplain with the South Carolina Department of
Corrections. He travels frequently to the country of Moldova
in Southeastern Europe where he is a lecturer teaching pastoral
ministry and leadership courses to pastors in training.
He is married to the former Carolyn P. Caton of Quincy, Massachusetts.
He and his wife of over forty-seven years have four children and five
grandchildren.
  
 
OUR
BOARD OF ADVISORS:
Dr. Charles Solomon -
Dr. Solomon is
President and Founder of Grace Fellowship International (GFI), a
Christ-centered counseling and counselor training ministry with
headquarters in Pigeon Forge, TN. Prior to being called into
a counseling and training ministry, Dr. Solomon was employed
in engineering and contracts work in aerospace with Martin Marietta
Corporation (now Lockheed Martin) in Baltimore and Denver.
He received the Bachelor of
Science degree from East Tennessee State University ('51); the Master
of Personnel Service degree from University of Colorado ('69), and the
Doctor of Education degree from University of Northern Colorado ('72).
His first book is Handbook
to Happiness
was published by Tyndale House and he has written 10 other books along
with numerous articles and three tracts; The Wheel and Line,
The Invisible Wall and Living to Die or Dying
to Live. Handbook to
Happiness has been published in 8 languages with several more
pending; The Wheel and Line has been translated in
35 languages including Russian and Chinese.
His model of
counseling/discipleship is well suited to implementation in churches
and ministries with the Holy Spirit using lay people to help those who
are hurting as well as discipling those who need someone to mentor them
in their spiritual growth. Conferences, workshops and more
extended training through distance education are available to prepare
believers for greater effectiveness in life and
ministry.
In addition to numerous ministries which are utilizing Dr. Solomon's
materials and/or approach to counseling to communicate the message of
the Cross in this country, works have been established in Eastern
Europe, Western Europe, South America, India, Australia, the
Philippines and Africa.
Dr.
Anita Davis DeFoe
-
Dr.
Anita Davis-DeFoe, a graduate of the University of North
Carolina-Chapel Hill, Antioch University, and Columbia Pacific
University currently serves as the Director of Quality Assurance of the
Broward Workforce Development Board/WorkForce One. Dr. DeFoe has over
fifteen years of years of grant writing, organization development,
quality management and program management experience. Formerly Dr.
DeFoe served as Director of a Veterans Upward Bound, a postsecondary
awareness program in Hollywood, Florida; Director of
an Educational Talent Search pre-college program at York
Technical College in Rock Hill, South Carolina; and Director of the
Virgin Islands Youth Multi-Service Center, an employment and training
agency. Dr. DeFoe serves as a trainer and consultant to organizations
in the United States and the Caribbean. She is an author of several
books and writes numerous columns in periodicals throughout the U.S.
Arnold Jean-Baptiste -
Children's Service
Council of Broward County.
Born in Brooklyn,
New York, but grew up in Haiti until age 15. He enlisted in
the United States Air Force where he served meritoriously for 23 years
Munitions Systems Technology Professional and Contingency Linguist. He
was selected as Senior Non Commissioned Officer of the year during a 4
year tour of duty in the Republic of Panama. He began work in human
services during his assignment as a refugee camp manager in Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba working to improve the lives of both Haitian and Cuban
migrants. He also is a veteran of the Vietnam War, Operation
Just Cause (Panama) and Desert Storm (Iraq).
Upon retiring from the military, JB joined the Workforce Development
Board of Hillsborough County as a veteran’s employment
specialist helping hundreds of veterans find employment and providing
links to other social services. He also acted as a
multi-lingual (Spanish, Creole, French and Tagalog) translation
specialist for the US Department of Labor until he moved to Broward
County in 2002 and served as a Program Director for the
President’s Faith and Community Based Pilot Project for the
State of Florida. He created a 365 member agency consortium and placed
over 25 kiosks throughout disenfranchised communities in Broward County
in a program now being replicated in other Workforce Boards nationwide.
Jean-Baptiste joined the Children’s Services Council of
Broward County in January 2004. As the staff member
designated to the Million Meals Committee of The Coordinating Council
of Broward and led over 65 agencies in the fight to eradicate hunger by
organizing them into a strong, proactive group. When Haiti was hit with
massive damage from Hurricane Jeanne in September 2004, he coordinated
donations for relief efforts and secured a ship and airplane to
transport the supplies to the storm damaged region free of charge. He
also served on the Children’s Services Council Mobile Unit
for the Earned Income Tax Credit effectively drawing down over $300,000
for working families in Broward County.
Neil
Watson
- Miami-Dade Aviation Department
Alvin
Roberts
- Miami
VA Medical
Center
We appreciate your suggestions and
feedback
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